Bannon And Trump: still the odd couple

Brandeis University News

When you think about it, Steve Bannon and Donald Trump have a lot in common. Both are reckless, impulsive, bombastic, narcissistic, demagogic. Both are among the world’s great bullshitters. But one of them is president of the United States and the other isn’t.
Thus, it was only a matter of time before Bannon would make himself persona non grata with Trump. Surprisingly, Bannon’s contemptuous comments to me, back in August, were enough to help get him fired from the White House, but not sufficient to cause a rupture with Trump. The two continued to speak regularly, Bannon later told me (unless that was also so much BS.)
Bannon’s latest comments crossed a line. They were, in Michael Kinsley’s famous definition of a gaffe, a blunder not because they were false but because they were true. They really didn’t tell us, and the rest of the Trump entourage, anything that we didn’t already know, but they were candid to the point of cruel and they came from an inside source.
Thus, Bannon had to be crushed by Trump loyalists. Bannon took several days to calculate his next move, and when it came it was surprisingly un-Bannon-like. Bannon apologized — suggesting that Bannon all along had a constituency of exactly one: Donald Trump. Without Trump, Bannon is just another far-right blowhard.
Bannon said in his Sunday mea culpa statement that his comments about treason had been directed at Paul Manafort, not at Trump, Junior: “Donald Trump Jr. is both a patriot and a good man. He has been relentless in his advocacy for his father and the agenda that has helped turn our country around.” He did not bother to retract the comment that Ivanka was dumb as a brick.
Bannon added:
My support is also unwavering for the president and his agenda — as I have …